Familiar Stranger
by Mapping the Soul
Summary: Two years have passed by; Moriyama no longer needs any excuses. [Sequel to Another Excuse – or can be read as a standalone.] M/M implications.


**Rating:** T

**Warning:** M/M

**Fandom:** Kuroko no Basuke / Kuroko's Basketball

**Pairing/Relationship:** Kise/Moriyama

**Status:** Complete

**Author:** Mapping the Soul

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything.

**Summary:** Years have passed by; Moriyama no longer needs any excuses. [Sequel to Another Excuse – or can be read as a standalone.]

If you read, review and/or favourite, thank you!

**Familiar Stranger**

From time to time, when he looked around and took out some time to think about it, Moriyama felt like a stalker. His actions were not intentional but he has not taken into consideration the idea of breaking his routine. It was a coincidence at first and he thought to avoid it but in the end, he allowed it to be. Moriyama didn't want to let Kise be the reason that it took a different route to university. For a whole year after his graduation he had stopped watching the blonde and started to move on—_slightly_.

For Moriyama, 'slightly', just meant not seeing him every day of the week. It was hard to avoid Kise Ryouta anyway. He was everywhere, even if it wasn't him in person. Kise was on the billboards for endorsements and there were always some kind of advertisement playing for skin products or something of the like. Moriyama could never be completely free. He knew that he wasn't bound anymore, but that only lasted a year. He did give himself credit for lasting a year. The second year was the hard one. It was the one that dropped Moriyama back into the full habit.

Once Kise had graduated after him, they were often on the same train. Moriyama allowed it to be. He just couldn't tear himself away. Graduation was out of his control so Moriyama didn't bother fighting it. He liked to think that the things out of his control should be left like it. But when given the choice, Moriyama always choose not to distance himself. How could he, when that twinkle had grown in luminosity? And the beauty didn't fade either. It seemed to have intensified.

Before he knew it, Moriyama was staring to blast a whole through the target of his affections. He always felt awkward about it but he just couldn't bring himself to stop. The best that he could do was shifting his gaze every now and then. Sometimes, when he felt like Kise was beginning to feel uncomfortable with the intense staring, he could force himself to break their connection. Still, the little break that he had given them only lasted a moment.

When Kise had finally managed to shake off his fans to get off at his stop, Moriyama sighed and buried his face into his hands. How was he any better than those girls who ogled their eyes at Kise like that? He continued to berate himself mentally until it was his stop. With droopy shoulders, Moriyama went home and slept soundly, partly thankful that for the next two weeks, his work experience opportunity would forcefully dragged him out of town.

There would be no sight of the real Kise in front of him for two weeks. He could live with that. His only hope was that he'd like the town so much it would allow the thought of moving to finally strike him and stick. The raven dropped everything and his body soon followed, toppling over the papers on his bed and then falling in a deep sleep.

It felt like he had gone into a deep state of sleep for two weeks. Strangely, he enjoyed the peace that came with it. Work was pretty good and the small town was beautiful and toxic free—figuratively and literally. Kise was a toxin, a beautiful one. And Moriyama had had no idea until he was completely free of it.

It was a bad thing, when he thought about it. He couldn't even tell when he was in the presence of the blonde. Whatever Kise did to him, he probably did to a few thousand others. The thought was depressing, much like the situations that Moriyama had put himself in when they were in the basketball team together. Just thinking about his history of actions made him cringe. He had used group dates to cover it all up. The memory of it was absolutely disgusting.

Sighing, the raven placed the folder over his head and made a run for it. As beautiful as the town was, Moriyama knew he had to go home. The tempting green leaves, lovely air and cute girls just didn't do it. They were all innocent, just how he liked them, but the spark was missing. The town was completely free of Kise. The advertisements were limited and during his two week stay, Moriyama hadn't bumped into any school girls that were fans of the blonde. It was very tempting to stay in such a pure place, but it wasn't enough to keep him.

The folder had kept his hair dry and he had barely made it to the station. Moriyama bought the ticket to the last train and then waited on the platform. It was scheduled to take off in another ten minutes and this would be a one train trip home. He was thankful that he didn't have to get off and change trains. His placement had been convenient. Moriyama drifted off until the announcement came blaring at him.

Jumping right to his feet, the raven made his way towards the usual carriage. He hadn't even noticed it, but he found his way to his usual seat and settled down comfortably. It'd be another hour and a half until he got home. However, at the forty five minute mark, his body had jerked and his eyes parted. He was doing it again, searching for the tall, lithe figure that always stood by the door.

Moriyama heard the rain first. It was still pouring outside. It was actually starting to sound like hail. And then, he felt like he was hallucinating. He thought he had heard Kise's gentle laugh. It was like pleasant temple bells, soothing and soft. The raven clamped his eyes shut until the voice seeped through him and forced him to shake his body free of the illusion. He must have looked like a soaked cat, because he could swear that he had been laughed at.

His eyes widened at the sight of the real model. The moment was brief. Moriyama felt like they had finally made eye contact but Kise never turned around again. The raven knew that he was not going back to sleep anymore. His stares became prevalent once again and he couldn't even help himself. Kise was saying goodbye to one of his fans, waving and smiling with a bright light in his hazelnut eyes. Moriyama hated the thought that ran through his mind.

_Why isn't any of that mine?_

Moriyama mentally slapped himself. Well, he had something that the others didn't. He shouldn't be complaining about it. He steadied himself and kept his eyes open as Kise's stop neared. The sound of the rain outside was ringing loudly next to his ears, when Kise creased speaking. His fans were all gone by now and it made Moriyama wonder. What was the blonde doing out so late? It could have been work, but the thought pissed the raven off. Kise was more likely to get mobbed by being alone. Why the hell had his manager allowed him to go home by public transport?

The raven's eyes flickered around the train in search of anyone suspicious. In his lookout, he had almost missed it. The sound of the rain forced him to chase for the first time in two years. Grabbing the umbrella that Kise had left behind, Moriyama raised his voice and held it out for grabs.

"Kise!"

The model turned and if he wasn't so beautiful all the time, Moriyama would have caught the smirk that played briefly on his lips. He also would have caught the less-than-surprised tone that came out when Kise spoke.

"Sempai?"

"C'mon, hurry up!" Moriyama complained, gesturing to the umbrella.

He waited another second and then lifted his arm to toss it over. However, before it left his fingers, Kise had grabbed onto it and pulled Moriyama off the carriage. Stunned, Moriyama didn't think about the amount of strength that it would have taken to get him off the train. Instead, he loosened his grip on the umbrella as the doors closed behind him. When he turned around, he was greeted by a gush of air and Kise's bright chuckle.

"It's been a long time, Moriyama-sempai."

The raven dared not turn around and only cursed under his breath, "Well, shit."

"Ah," Kise exclaimed, "That was the last train!"

Moriyama wanted to glare but couldn't. It was Kise Ryouta that he was trying to be upset at—just impossible with the gleam in his eyes and the happiness that overflowed in his voice. He could have taken it as a normal reaction. After all, they were friends who hadn't directly spoken for two years. Still, the raven created his own hopes out of Kise's reaction.

"Sempai…" Kise's voice dragged Moriyama away from his thoughts.

He lifted his head to finally meet those marble eyes, "Yeah?"

"How far are you from home?"

"Still another forty minutes," Moriyama replied and Kise looked shocked.

"By train? So it'd take you double the time to get back—you know what? Why don't you just stay over tonight?" Kise suggested offhandedly with a grin, "It's only a five minute walk from the station, so it shouldn't hinder you tomorrow."

Moriyama couldn't say a word. Instead, he followed closely. He was forced to when Kise had opened up the umbrella for them to share. Now he was just openly stalking the model. It was really only five minutes away and from ten metres away, Moriyama could see that Kise was still living rather comfortably. His place was bigger than the raven's but not so large that it'd steal a lot of attention. The raven was surprised that the area was completely fan girl free.

"My fans have always been rather nice," Kise spoke up as he caught Moriyama's uneasy glances.

"That's good," Moriyama nodded as Kise turned the lock.

There was a small chuckle that escaped Kise's lips. "Yeah, guess you could say I have a pretty good guard."

Moriyama had no idea. He hadn't seen anyone like that around Kise and he had been watching the blonde for a long time. The surprise on Moriyama's face allowed Kise to glow in his laughter. It was a wonderfully cute sight.

"I was talking about _you_, sempai." Kise said softly and opened the door, "Come in?"

The raven's mouth dropped open. He didn't know what he should say in return. Kise _knew_. Of course he would. The model was used to being watched. Moriyama panicked internally. Did Kise want to like… hurt him for all the watching that he had done? The smile on the blonde's face told Moriyama that he had been trapped and so easily at that. He wanted to bury himself ten metres deep.

"I promise I'm not angry," Kise reassured him, hair riding the wind and eyes shining, "After all, you were my familiar stranger for the year."

Kise stepped inside first, leaving him with the choice. He could go home, run all the way there and bury himself in his blankets or he could stay. The latter was damn tempting. Kise had baited him well. The little smirk was clear now and it shouldn't have made his heart jump, but it did. Everything about Kise did. Kise was toxin and Moriyama knew there was no cure as he took the step that he hadn't, two years ago.

_Fin._


End file.
